Cold and Dark: A New Dawn
by JinxSaw
Summary: AU. Pitch seeks out Jack Frost after discovering he has been picked as the next Guardian and persuades him to join the cause. Rated T for later chapters. Updates Tuesdays and Fridays.
1. Chapter 1

**Cold and Dark: A New Dawn**

 **Summary: Pitch seeks out Jack Frost after discovering he has been picked as the next Guardian and persuades him to join the cause.**

 **A/N: I'm new to this fandom, but my colleague is obsessed with this film and is inadvertently getting me into it. She was talking about how different everything would be if Pitch had got to Jack first, so I decided to write this. So, this is for Natasha! Probably won't be too long, about 20 chapters or so according to the outline I've managed to put together, but I hope that people enjoy it!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Rise of the Guardians, and I am not affiliated with any of its relating studios, nor am I seeking to make a profit from this fanfiction.**

Pitch looked up at the moon, his dark nightmares chasing each other across the cold night sky. After centuries spend battling his old friend, and the subsequent centuries recovering, he felt he was ready. Ready to take his rightful place in the world. The dark ages would be nothing. Not compared to what was coming, the reign of terror he was about to unleash on the unsuspecting planet.

A sudden flash of movement further down the street caught his eye. Standing on the electricity wires, wires which now ran across the entire globe, was a young boy, no more than eighteen. Of course, this would be no ordinary boy. From his frosted, blue jacket, bare feet and white hair, Pitch was confident with assuming that this was Jack Frost.

Knowing that this child was looked down on by the Guardians and not believed in by anybody across the five continents, he strained to hear what the boy was saying as he looked up at the moon.

"You put me here!" Jack spat out venomously. "The least you can do is tell me… Tell me why…" He trailed off, hopeless. The one time he had heard from the moon was waking up in a lake, almost three hundred years ago. He had heard his name whispered to him, as if from across time. He assumed that a sense of purpose was far too much to ask for. Causing mischief wasn't too bad, he supposed. It served well enough to distract him, if nothing else.

"I wouldn't hope to get anything out of him," Pitch said, lazily, watching with some amusement as Jack span around wildly to find where he was. "He doesn't care. Doesn't care about anyone but himself, really. Him and those bloody Guardians."

"Who are you?" Jack demanded, still turning around in circles.

Pitch sighed, rolling his eyes. Was this really who the man in the moon had chosen for the next Guardian? A petulant child with no more idea of how the world worked than the wire he stood on.

"My name is Pitch Black," he said, smoothly, his voice dripping like honey. "But you probably know me as the bogeyman. I'm sure your mother told you stories about me."

"The bogeyman!" Jack snorted. "Liar, the Guardians made the bogeyman up to stop children, and me, from having fun!"

"Jack, Jack, Jack," Pitch materialised behind the boy, crooning, a wounded expression on his face. "I'm disappointed and, frankly, a little hurt. After all, you're one to comment on being believed in."

Jack visibly bristled as he turned to finally come face to face with Pitch. The Guardian of Fun and the Bringer of Fear eyed each other. Jack was apprehensive. When the Prince of Nightmares seeks you out personally, it's never a good thing. That was something he actually did know, beyond not having a purpose and his own name. Pitch was looking for a weakness, any kind of in. He knew Jack's worst fear – never knowing what he was there to do, never being believed in – and, almost more importantly, knew how to use it against him.

"The way I see it," Pitch continued after a long, tense silence, "is that we are both on the same page. You don't have to be alone, Jack." His voice became pleading as he tried to appeal to the softer side of the boy, the side he was going to need to snuff out as soon as possible, before Tooth and her charms, or North and his wonder, could get to him. "What goes together better than cold and dark?"

Pitch smirked broadly, although Jack misinterpreted the almost predatory look as a welcoming smile. Jack frowned, clearly thinking hard over Pitch's offer. The boy was pretty slow, considering he'd been around for the past three centuries. Had he not even bothered to learn the most basic of logical thinking in that time?

"But, you're all about fear," Jack stammered. "And I…" He struggled for a minute to find what he wanted to say, and to think about what it was he actually did. "I make people happy. I make them have fun!"

Once again, Pitch resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

"My dear boy, just today did you not guide a child through heavy traffic on a wooden sled?"

"Yup, that was me," The boy seemed proud of his stunt.

"And the child had fun?"

"Yeah, of course he had fun!"

"I'd imagine he was scared, though," Pitch said carefully, winding his way into Jack's subconscious. He gently prodded his fears, fears which were all the more prominent for his one sided conversation with the man in the moon. "Terrified, even. And yet, he had fun. There's no true fun without a little fear to start the adrenaline. Just think about skydiving and rollercoasters. So much fun… But terrifying."

Jack stared up at Pitch, a look of almost adoration in his face. He could see it so clearly in his mind. Him and Pitch, watching over a world where children had nothing but fun. There was no Easter Bunny, mad over a supposedly ruined Easter, no North to complain that the children were under awed by presents when presented with a fresh blanket of snow at the same time. He could see no Sandman, no one to send the children to sleep and ruin their games… And no bloody Groundhog to send him away early and ruin _his_ fun.

"Well, Jack," Pitch said, knowing full well what Jack was thinking, and knowing full well that the vision in his head would not be the vision which he was putting in play. "Are you with me?"

"I'm with you," Jack replied, no hesitation in his voice. He wasn't seeing Pitch and the darkened street in front of him, though. He was seeing the same crowd of children from this morning. A crowd around him, throwing snow and laughing… Laughing with him!

"Wonderful news, Jack," Pitch murmured. "Now, there is much we must discuss."

Jack shook his head free from the images dancing around his brain.

"There is?" he asked, disgruntled.

"Come, come, my boy. You can't expect us to defeat the Guardians with no plan, can you?"

"I suppose not," Jack grumbled.

"Wonderful! Now, you should know that one of them will be here at any moment to take you to North's workshop." He held up a hand at the quizzical expression on Jack's face, quickly silencing any questions that the boy may have. "The moon has named you as the next Guardian."

Pitch wished he had a camera as a murderous shadow passed across Jack's face. That would show the moon, the child he had picked was capable of so much more than he was doomed to.

"I will not be a Guardian," he spat. "That really does go against everything I stand for! So many rules! It's all so boring!"

"And, yet, you must become one." Pitch carefully arranged his face to look pained as Jack stared back up at him. "It's for the Greater Good. We must have someone on the inside. That someone is you."

"I'll do it," Jack replied. "For the Greater Good."


	2. Chapter 2

**Cold and Dark: A New Dawn**

Pitch had barely been gone a minute, when Bunny bounded past Jack, as predicted. Jack cursed the moon. Why did it have to be Bunny? Couldn't the Guardians have sent… Well, anybody else? An anybody else who, just maybe, didn't hate him?

Jack drifted down from the rooftops to a deserted alley and waited for Bunny to realise he wasn't going to be chasing him down through the streets.

"Hello, mate," an unmistakable voice said from the shadows.

"Hey, Bunny," Jack replied, nonchalantly. "Been a long time, hasn't it?"

"Blizzard of '68, I believe. Easter Sunday, wasn't it?"

Jack chuckled drily. "You're not still mad about that, are ya?"

Bunny narrowed his eyes at Jack, and some part of his mind was aware that this was meant to be an intimidating gesture, but on an overgrown rabbit it didn't quite have the same affect.

"Yes, but this is about something else." A smirk appeared out of nowhere as he glanced behind Jack's head. "Fellas?"

From the shadows, two Yeti's stepped out, holding a brown sack. They walked threateningly towards Jack, who jumped up to try and fly out the way. He wasn't quick enough, and the Yeti stuffed him headfirst into the burlap. Bunny poked the bag aggressively as it wriggled viciously.

"Hey, let me out of here!" came the muffled voice of Jack.

The Yeti's ignored him, and picked up the sack, avoiding both the staff and flailing limbs which threatened to put them out of action in the factory for the foreseeable future. One of the Yeti's threw a glass orb into the air, summoning a portal which led to the North Pole Workshop on the other side. They indicated, asking if Bunny was going with them.

"Me?" Bunny replied, disgusted at the very thought of travelling through portals. "Not on your nelly. See you back at the Pole." Thumping his overly large feet on the ground, he created a hole which he fell through.

The Yeti tossed the sack through the portal, before following him through.

* * *

Jack landed on the hard floor with an echoing crack, something which would have left him severely injured if he had been mortal. He fought his way out of the sack, grasping his staff tightly, and waving it at anything that moved. Blinking slightly in the suddenly bright light, he struggled to see where he was or who was around him. Slowly, the blurred shapes in front of him became people.

"He's here!" A tall, Russian man was saying. "Quiet! There he is! Jack Frost!"

"You have got to be kidding me," Jack said, looking around at the group which had been gathered.

"I hope the Yeti's treated you well," North said, sounding somewhat concerned.

"Oh yeah. I love being shoved in a sack and tossed through a magic portal,"

"Oh good, that was my idea." North looked smug. Jack decided that he was either thoughtlessly cruel, or just really rather dim. Judging by the fact he had called him here to become a Guardian, he concluded that he must be really, really dim. "You know Bunny, obviously," he continued, oblivious to Jack's judgment.

"Unfortunately," Jack muttered, unheard by anyone aside from the anthropomorphic rabbit.

"And the Tooth Fairy," North continued. The fairy looked as if she were about to rush over to Jack and peer in his mouth. One frosty glare later, and she reconsidered, remembering why he was there and the seriousness of the situation. "And Sandman," he finished, looking to where the glowing man floated. "Sandy! Wake up!"

The golden man floated gently to the floor, waving to indicate that he hadn't been asleep and had, in fact, been awake the whole time, and was simply meditating.

No one said anything for a long, awkward moment as the four Guardians and Jack stared at each other. Each one felt slightly cold when they met his eyes, but put it down to his nature as the Spirit of Winter. Jack was determined to not do anything to help these guys out. He would make them work for him.

"I suspect you are wondering why you're here, Jack," Tooth said, eventually.

"The thought had crossed my mind, yeah," Jack replied nonchalantly as he peered at the room around him. The North Pole Workshop was somewhere he had tried to get into for many years and had never been successful. Now life was about to get boring, and be full of rules, and he was in. Oh, the trouble he could have caused!

"You are now Guardian!" North declared, delighted. Elves appeared from nowhere, playing music and offering him shoes. A few of the tiny fairies who hovered around Tooth flew over with a snowflake necklace. Bunny rolled his eyes, whilst above Sandy's head banners waved in the gold sleep dust.

An odd noise began, and, one by one, everyone fell silent, until the only sound was Jack laughing. It filled the workshop, and Yetis seven stories above felt their hearts freeze. North looked on, concerned at the way the child was handling the situation.

"Jack?" He asked. "Are you ok?"

Jack looked up at the Russian, wiping a tear from his eyes as the chocked laughter died down.

"I'm sorry, you want me as a Guardian? Thanks… But no thanks." He stared defiantly up at the four of them, daring one of them to challenge his decision. He couldn't give in and become one of them too easily, he and Pitch had decided. He needed to put up some kind of fight which, to be honest, wasn't difficult. He didn't want to be a Guardian anyway, not least if it meant working alongside Bunny.

"Good," Bunny intoned. "We didn't want you anyway."

"Bunny!" Tooth chided gently. "That's a lie, Jack. We did want you. We were just a little… Surprised when the man in the moon picked you."

The chill crept through the room again as Jack narrowed his eyes.

"This is his answer to me? Three hundred years trying to work out who I am, what I'm here for, why I'm here… And now he makes me a Guardian?" The disbelief was obvious in his eyes. "And he doesn't even bother to tell me himself, he sends a bloody kangaroo!"

"I'm a bunny, kid. Watch it."

Jack ignored him.

"Ok, enough, enough," North stepped in. "We cannot have this fighting between us. Pitch is out there doing who knows what!" Jack snorted loudly, amused.

"Pitch? The Bogeyman, Pitch Black?" He looked around at the four faces staring at him. "You have got to be kidding me, Pitch is a myth."

"Pitch? Myth?" North frowned. "No, Pitch is no myth. Pitch is as real as you or I."

"Except you're more real than I am," Jack muttered, hoping that, once again, no one would hear him. He was not as fortunate this time.

"Jack, of course you're real," Tooth said gently. "You have teeth, you smile, you have…" She struggled to think of more examples. "You're real!"

"Not to anyone else," he replied, angrily. "For three hundred years, no one has seen me except for you lot! How do you think that feels? No one saw me for thirteen years. I thought I was a ghost in a world with no other ghosts. I don't think I am real. No one believes in me."

"Then become a Guardian, Jack," Tooth pleaded. "Become a Guardian, and children will believe in you! We'll leave leaflets with teeth, and in presents, and put visions of you into their dreams, and – "

"You leave my eggs out of this," Bunny interjected quickly.

"So you're gonna bribe me into becoming a Guardian," Jack said, ignoring Bunny.

"Well, no, not – "

"Jack, if we have to, then we will," North said sadly. "I am just sorry that it has come to this. As Guardian, we protect the children. That should be an honour. That should not be something that you must be bribed to do."

Jack scowled up at the globe which loomed over their heads. Pitch had told him that each light represented a child that believed in the Guardians. As he looked, he saw at least ten lights go out. Whatever Pitch was doing, it was working, even if it was just spreading nightmares at this time. It would teach the Guardians some humility to not be believed in for a while.

"I'll do it," Jack said, interrupting an argument between Tooth and Bunny that he hadn't been listening to.

"Jack, are you sure?" asked Tooth. Jack nodded, his eyes still fixed on the globe. One day, one day very soon, those lights would all be out. He would be believed in. And if he wasn't, then no one would be believed in.

North stepped forward, a huge leather bound book in his hands.

"Will you, Jack Frost, vow to watch over the children of the world? To guard them with your life – their hopes, their wishes and their dreams, for they are all that we have, all that we are, and all that we will ever be."

"I will," Jack replied solemnly.

"Then, congratulations, Jack Frost. For you are now, and forevermore, a Guardian." North closed the book, replacing it on a pedestal which quickly sunk back under the ground.

Tooth gasped suddenly, clutching frantically at her heart. Her fairies fluttered around her head frantically, struggling to maintain flight. The remaining four Guardians looked over at her, concern on at least three of their faces.

"The Tooth Palace!" she gasped out, a picture of horror. "We have to get to the Tooth Palace, quickly!"


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Pretend it's Tuesday still, my personal life's been off the wall.**

 **Chapter Three**

Jack blinked in the sudden bright light after travelling through his second portal of the day, taking a moment to take stock of his situation. Some 200 feet up in the air, on board a sleigh pulled by flying reindeers. Not exactly where he had expected his day to end up. Briefly, he wondered what was so urgent to pull all five Guardians away from their emergency council and to the residency of Tooth.

It was only briefly, as, once the fog from the light change had cleared, he could see that they were surrounded by Nightmares, cantering through the air. Around him came the gasps of shock, and Sandy tried to block them with one of his conjured umbrellas.

"They're taking the tooth fairies!" called Tooth in shock, looking around her in despair. Jack reached a hand into a passing Nightmare and grabbed a fairy from inside, stuffing it into his pocket.

The group grew closer to the Tooth Palace, where they could see the empty rooms and passages. Some Nightmares were still there, though, running through the empty halls and leaving with golden boxes.

"They're taking the teeth!" Bunny cried wildly, leaping from the sleigh and attempting to fight one of them. North followed him, thrusting the reigns in Jack's direction. Tooth gripped Jack's shoulders tightly, terrified, as he attempted to land the contraption with minimal damage.

The last Nightmare left as they landed, taking off into the sky.

"I have to say… This is very, very exciting. The Big Four all in one place. I'm a little star struck. Did you like my show on the globe, North? Got you all together, didn't I?" Pitch chuckled darkly, appearing on a platform a little in front of the Guardians.

"Pitch! You have got 30 seconds to return my fairies-"

"Or what? You'll leave a quarter under my pillow?"

"Why are you doing this?" asked North, clearly confused that anybody could have a view differing from his own.

"Maybe I want what you have," Pitch reasoned. "To be believed in! To restore the balance to the world, a balance that has long been off. You don't see what it's like in the places you don't look over, you don't –"

"Maybe no one wants to believe in you!" Bunny yelled up at the young man.

"Pah. Go suck an egg, rabbit," Pitch said dismissively. "Hang on… Is that Jack Frost? Since when are you all so chummy?"

"Since today," Jack said back, meeting Pitch's eye. A flicker of approval ghosted across the older mans face, unnoticed by the other Guardians.

"Then, because you are clearly still a child, I am going to ignore you." He sneered down at Jack. "You must be used to that by now."

Tooth took that moment to seize one of Bunny's boomerangs, trying to attack him, but a Nightmare appeared from no where and screeched at her. She appeared to shrink in on herself. Pitch laughed again, that dry, humourless chuckle of villains.

"Look familiar, Sandman? Took me a while to perfect that little trick, turning dreams into nightmares. Don't be nervous, it only riles them up more. They smell fear, you know."

"What fear? Of you?" Bunny tried to bluff. "No one's been afraid of you since the Dark Ages!"

"Ah, the Dark Ages. Everyone frightened, miserable – oh the power I wielded! But the Man in the Moon chose you to replace my fear with your wonder and light. Replace! As if you could replace fear with hope, dreams and wonder!" Pitch snarled angrily. "Everyone wrote me off as a bad dream. Oh, there's nothing to be afraid of! Well that's all about to change. It's happening already."

"What's happening?"

"Children are waking up and realising the Tooth Fairy never came. Didn't they tell you, Jack? It's great to be a Guardian! But there's a catch. If enough kids stop believing in them, they stop existing. Nothing but little old me. It's your turn to not be believed in!" Pitch vanished with a theatrical spin.

Jack whirled around to face the older Guardians.

"If you're not believed in, you vanish?" he asked, venom lacing his voice. North bowed his head sadly.

"That was not a lie," he conceded.

"And you allowed me to become a Guardian, knowing full well that no one believes in me, and that I will, therefore, stop existing?" He dug his powers into himself and froze his heart, preventing himself from getting more than righteously angry over this alteration. From the shocked looks on the faces of Tooth and North, he guessed that they had not pieced this together for themselves.

"Jack, I didn't think of that," Tooth said. Jack looked at Bunny. It was clear that he had thought of it, and decided to not inform any of his fellow Guardians.

"Man in Moon will make this work out, Jack," North promised. Jack swallowed his anger, deciding to save it for a time when it could actually be used.

"Why would Pitch take the teeth?" Jack asked, changing the subject quickly.

"It's not the teeth, it's the memories inside them," Tooth said kindly. "That's why we collect the teeth, they hold the most important memories of childhood. My fairies and I watch over them. And when someone needs to remember what's important, we help them. We had everyone's here. Your too."

Jack started, not expecting that. He could feel the red hot finger of anger working its way up inside him again.

"My memories?" he managed to stutter out.

"From whe you were young," Tooth clarified. "Before you were Jack Frost. We were all somebody before we were chosen."

"Are you saying I had a life? Before this, with a home and a family?"

"Do you really not remember?" Tooth asked, aghast.

"All these years… The answers were here." He rounded on Bunny suddenly. "Did you know about the teeth?"

"Of course," Bunny smirked. Jack ground his teeth in frustration. All this time, Bunny could have helped him out, could have asked Tooth to help him out. And all over that one incident… Well, sixty-seven 'incidents', but only that one occasion. He didn't see why Bunny didn't just get over it already.

"I want them back," Jack demanded, looking back at Tooth. One of her feathers slowly fell from her wings, followed by another.

"The children… We're too late," she moaned, becoming, once again, to Jack's pain.

"No! No! No such thing as too late!" North declared, humming in thought. "Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait! Idea! We will collect the teeth!"

"What?" Tooth asked, eloquently.

"We get teeth, children keep believing in you."

"We're talking seven continents, millions of kids!"

"Give me break, you know how many toys I deliver in one night?"

"And eggs I hide in one day?" Bunny chimed in.

"We can really do this!" Tooth said, excited. "Let's go collect those teeth!"

* * *

 _A courtroom stood almost empty, the cold winds passing through the heavy wooden doors without so much of a thought. The single occupant of the great room did not so much as shiver. He was used to the cold, and the cold to him. He was expecting someone at any moment, his most trusted advisor._

 _A loud knock echoed throughout the waiting room, and the man on the throne raised a hand, bidding the doors open. A tall man in a long, dark, flowing cloak stepped through them, darkness seeming to spread from his feet at each step he took. The man on the throne suppressed an approving smile at the way the Bogeyman moved._

" _What news do you have for me?" he asked instead, no greeting, formal or otherwise, necessary. Not here, anyway. Not when They could have spies anywhere._

" _My Lord," the shadowly figure bowed deeply. "The Guardians have amassed an army of fairies and dreams, and are marching this way. What would you have me do?"_

" _Good sir, would that all my subjects were as loyal as you, Bogeyman," his leader said with a deep sigh that spoke depths of the suffering he and his people had experienced. "Amass our own army. Call down the damned and the dratted, summon my sprites of frost, and collect the nightmares."_

" _Your vision will be realised, Frost."_

" _And balance shall be restored," spoke the surprisingly young man from the throne, his blue eyes twinkling merrily, and his white hair falling into his eyes. "See to it that it is done, Black."_

 _Pitch Black bowed deeply to his master and friend, and set off. He travelled in the day, knowing that, despite his dependence on the shadows, the sun was a better friend than the night._


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

Pitch was very old, despite his appearance. He had known so many incarnations of the Guardians that he, if not for his superior brain power, would have begun to mix them up. He had never forgotten Old Father Winter, the man who had ruled over him when he had first become an immortal. He had held him and his teachings in high regard, and, when he felt that everything was failing, he remembered.

It was why when he had first seen the young Jack Frost, angrily shouting at the moon, he had remembered his old master and friend. The child not only reminded him of him, he was him in everything but body. It was why he was so eager to bring him on board. In the old days, they had stood united and ruled everywhere. The Guardians had had their moments, and the cold and dark had had theirs.

Until that meddling moon got involved.

He could still remember it clearly, the day that the moon decided that instead of simply assigning Guardians and spirits he would pit the two halves of the whole against each other.

Chaos reigned. Frost and Pitch had clung to their ways, respecting the balance of the world, and the Guardians… Well, the Guardians hadn't. They'd seized the chance to make everything fun, taking away all challenge in life. That wasn't how life worked. Humanity plateaued. There were no developments, and the Dark Ages approached. Pitch was forced to act on his own, his friend showing no signs of being reincarnated by the moon. The world was in a constant state of terror but, within that terror, there were people acting out against it. Becoming brave, despite everything. Having hope, and wonder, and dreams. That was what they were all meant to be about.

Until they had cast him out, beat him, downtrodden, where he was forced to Russia for many years. Russia was truly miserable. The people there had no use for anything the Guardians stood for, and so they avoided it. In the meantime, Pitch had overheard talk of the new sprite: a sprite of mischief, fun… and winter.

He had rejoiced to hear his friend had finally been bought back to him, and was going to find him. He left, several times, but realised he was too weak to make the journey. And there was always the chance that Frost would not recognise him.

So he waited. Waited until he was strong enough and had a plan. Waited for the most perfect moment to speak to Jack.

He was good at waiting.

* * *

" _Jack,"_ hissed a voice near the young boys head. He glanced around, trying to see which of the Guardians was speaking to them. He didn't really want to talk to any of them at this point. _"It's Pitch. I am speaking to you through the fairy you took"_

"What is it, Pitch?" he muttered back, trying to keep his voice low.

" _I didn't realise you didn't remember anything,"_ he replied. _"I have your teeth here, I'm sorry. If I had realised, I would have done this sooner."_

Jack was shocked at the true remorse he could feel in his mentors words.

"It's ok," he murmured. "You weren't to know. They, on the other hand, did. And never did anything about it." He paused. "They want us to take the teeth, do the jobs of the fairies."

" _Well of course they do,"_ Pitch snarled. _"They think they have the upper hand. Take the teeth. Leave no gift. Take the gifts the other Guardians leave."_ Pitch's usual chuckle sounded strange when coming from the small fairy.

"They're everywhere!" Tooth called excitedly, flitting around the large city, narrowly avoiding a billboard.

The Guardians raced around, from house to house, room to room, filling sacks upon sacks with teeth. It grossed Jack out a little, if he was being completely honest. He thought it probably did Bunny too, as he picked them up far more gingerly than he did.

"Whoa! You boys collect teeth and leave gifts almost as fast as my fairies!" Tooth said, congratulating them. Sandy, North and Bunny all looked at each other, confused. "You guys have been leaving gifts, right?" she demanded.

They raced off, and Jack followed, slipping into each child's bedroom and taking the gifts, feeding them to a Nightmare Pitch had sent. Jack was sure that the amount of quarters the horse had eaten would create an imbalance in the economy of the town.

"You report back to Pitch," Jack crooned, stroking the dark horse, who whinnied slightly before taking off into the night, blocking out the stars.

They all stood in a child's room. The same child Jack had launched off of a makeshift ski ramp during the day, forcing his tooth to come out.

"How you feeling, Toothy?" North asked anxiously.

"Not great still," she responded, a slight frown creasing her head. "If anything, I'm feeling worse."

"But… we collected the teeth…" said North sounding downtrodden.

"Unless someone was sabotaging us," Bunny scowled.

"Now, now, Bunny. Who would sabotage us?" North asked in good humour.

"Oh, I dunno, maybe Pitch?" Bunny bit back, and both stared at each other, anger in their eyes.

"We would've seen Pitch," Jack sneered. "Maybe Bunny was just horrifically awful at giving gifts. After all, he's not exactly known for it. Eggs are not a present, my friend."

The tension was almost at breaking point, when a light snapped on, and the Guardians all looked towards the bed where a child sat staring up at them.

"Santa Claus, Sandman, the Easter Bunny!" he said in delight.

"He doesn't see me…" Tooth said, the reality sinking in. "He doesn't believe in me."

"Join the club," Jack muttered darkly, a part of him feeling gratitude that the boy who had attributed his fun earlier in the day to the Tooth Fairy now didn't believe in her.

"Shhh, he's awake!" North hissed. "Sandman, knock him out!"

Sandman began to make his way towards Jamie, menacingly.

"With the sand!" North called, exasperated. A lightbulb appeared above Sandy's head, and he threw some sand towards the boy. An unexpected gust of wind scattered the sand, and it landed on Tooth, North and Bunny, as well as the child, and they all fell into a deep slumber.

"Nice one, Sandy," Jack said, rolling his eyes.

"Yes, Sandman," a voice crept into the room, chilling Sandy to the core. "I appreciate the wind, Jack. Let me take this from here."

"Yes, Pitch," Jack murmured, stepping back. The Nightmare sand flowed in through the window as Pitch's chilling laugh followed. Sandy looked around, fear in his eyes, as the darkness closed in on him. His light grew dimmer and dimmer before Jack's eyes, before he vanished away to nothing.

Pitch turned to face Jack. He hadn't even noticed the older man enter the room.

"I will put you to sleep now, Jack. They cannot know that you were involved in this. Sandy is gone." He almost looked sad for a moment. "He will return, eventually, but no one knows when. Not even the moon will know. Once you wake, come and find me. There is much we need to discuss."

And with that, Pitch was gone. And Jack was asleep.

The Guardians awoke to the sun rising, just before Jamie awoke. And no one knew what had happened to Sandy.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

Jack arrived at Pitch's lair, looking around him in wonder at the fairies that filled the huge cages hanging from the ceilings. The sound of their squeaky chatter echoed around the cavernous rooms, and the small fairy in Jack's pocket flew up to flit between the cages, chattering in fear. Jack wandered through the halls aimlessly, looking for Pitch. His feet crunched over the thousands of boxes of teeth, each one shattering. Had Jack been a mortal, his feet would have been torn to shreds.

Voices called out to Jack in terror as he crushed them, forever stamping out the memories of the children. The most important memories of their childhood, the ones that gave them hope, dreams and wonder. All gone. Jack couldn't find it in himself to be remorseful. He didn't remember anything at all for hundreds of years. These people could last another fifty or so without remembering about twenty things. People forgot things all the time. It was just a part of growing up.

Jack had seen it happen, once. A child had believed in Bigfoot so badly, had dedicated his entire life to finding them. Jack had told Phil, the Yeti he knew from the workshop in the North Pole, how dedicated the child was. Of course, Phil had initially thought that this was just another ploy for Jack to get into the workshop, but, eventually, Jack won him around, and he sent a younger Yeti with Jack to Brooklyn. But Jack had taken too long convincing the Yeti's. The child could almost see Bigfoot.

He had watched him blink, and rub his eyes before peering, once again, through the snowstorm. And the child couldn't see the Yeti anymore. He had grown up. He had stopped believing.

The Yeti had taken it hard, harder than Jack would have imagined, and retreated in on himself. He became isolated, moving into a cave and away from the workshop. Phil had been furious with Jack, and, so he had heard, North had been even worse. He didn't take kindly to one of his workers being shown what real life was like.

"Jack, my dear boy," Pitch said, his voice sliding over the shrieking of the fairies. "That was marvellous, simply marvellous!" He gestured to a dark corner of the room, filled with various different toys, monies and, of all the most bizarre things, Easter eggs. "They don't suspect a thing."

"Except for Bunny," Jack muttered darkly. Bunny seemed to always be suspicious of him.

"You won't gain Bunny's trust, Jack," Pitch sadly replied. "Despite representing hope and new beginnings, he will never forgive you for that Easter."

"Bunny needs to loosen up," he scowled.

"What you did that year was a bold move, I was watching, from a distance. I was proud of you."

"How could you be proud of me? You'd never met me!"

Pitch bit back his response, knowing Jack wasn't ready for it. Knowing this Jack, at least, would never be ready for it. He wasn't sure he would survive their victory, and Pitch couldn't stand to lose his friend again. No, much better to maintain their distance.

"I knew this would be coming," Pitch explained. "I wanted to observe you, make sure you were fit for my plan."

"I'm going to assume that I passed your test," Jack replied, his voice laced with the ice he was most known for.

"Almost, Jack, almost. There is one test left."

Pitch reached into his jacket pocket, and pulled out the little fairy that Jack had been carrying around with him since the palace and tossed her towards the younger boy. She tumbled through the air, stunned from when Pitch had grabbed her from the air, harshly, and landed in Jack's outstretched hand. Her wings trembled in the slight breeze blowing through the network, but otherwise the only movement from her were the shallow breaths she was taking.

"I doubt you asked for this fairy's name, did you?" Pitch asked. Jack looked startled as his eyes flicked up to meet Pitch's. "No need for panic, I do not expect you to even understand the lower fey languages, let alone be able to converse in them. This fairy is called Yazid."

Jack carefully studied the fairy who now had a name and wondered, not for the first time, why she had managed to avoid being caught by the nightmares.

"Allow me to tell you how my nightmare's work, Jack. For, you see, they are blind. They can sense fear, but they see by sensing magic. There is a certain bracket for a fairy's expected magic, and, if seen on a scale of ten, would register somewhere between six and eight. Do you know where this fairy's magic registered?"

He shook his head, still gazing at the tiny creature in his hand.

"Yazid registered at three," Pitch said clearly. There was an audible drop in the volume of the surrounding fairies. "Yes, poor Yazid here doesn't even have the magical strength to fly for any length of time. Every breath she takes puts her in more and more pain. Did you know that 76% of a fairy is made of magic? She's barely keeping herself together."

"She's dying," Jack said softly. Pitch's face dropped.

"No, Jack. She cannot die, not from anything like that. Only external forces can kill her, another magical force. She's not mortal either, remember?" Pitch waited as the information sank in.

"So, she's just in pain? And she'll be in pain for her whole life?" Pitch bowed his head. "Then… The only right thing to do, would be to kill her now. Wouldn't it?"

"Her life is, quite literally, in your hands," Pitch replied. The cave went deathly silent, each fairy peering through the bars of their cages, waiting. They knew that to be a fairy with that little magic would be a horrendous fate. One worse than death, many of the older fairies would say. They had heard Yazid complaining about being in pain before, but had never taken her seriously, instead assuming that she was acting up so that she didn't have to work as hard. To have her magic status confirmed in such a blunt way was shocking.

Jack stared into the blue eyes of the tiny, fragile creature in his hands. She was quivering from the cold of his hands, her wings beating gently. He could see right through them and, now he had the other fairies to compare her to, could see that they were far more translucent than any of the others. She was also smaller, and she sparkled less. She gazed back up at Jack, though, understanding everything, begging him with her eyes to understand what she was thinking.

"I can't do it, Pitch," Jack stammered eventually, tearing his eyes away from hers. "I'm not strong enough, I'm not brave enough. I'm sorry, Yazid." He wasn't looking at her anymore, so he didn't notice the tears that sprang up in her hurt filled eyes.

"Jack, you are the spirit of fun. I am the spirit of bravery, despite the tales that I am the spirit of fear. I can give you the bravery you need, but only if you want it. Will you accept what you have to do? Accept the adulthood that was taken from you?"

Jack looked back down at Yazid. He concentrated hard on his hands, channelling his magic. The cave grew hot, as all the cold inside was drawn towards the one spot. Yazid shivered. Jack pushed a little harder, willing some of the fun he had given to the children into her. Yazid sat up, despite the sheen of ice forming over her wing, and she smiled, finally free from the pain.

A smiling ice statuette of a fairy was left sitting on Jack's hand. The surrounding fairies wiped tears from their eyes at the sight, pleased that their sister had at least been happy at the end.

"That was not the hardest part, Jack," Pitch warned. "She could still melt, and the pain would be worse than before if she did. You must crush her."

It should have been a small step from freezing a fairy to death to crushing one, but it wasn't. The freezing had been easy, after all. He had done it countless times before in various different snow storms. He had caused others to kill each other out of madness, he had cut people off to the point of starvation, but he had never directly taken that step. He had never directly taken another life.

Hesitantly, Jack's fingers closed over the icy statuette, the surface already damp as it melted.

A sudden chattering from one of the cages burst forth, and Jack looked around. One of the fairies was openly weeping. The noise seemed to be the catalyst for the rest of the gathered fey to unmute, and there was suddenly, of all things, cheering. Cheering for Jack.

"They respect you, Jack," Pitch said carefully. "You've won them back. Congratulations."

"Won them back?" Jack asked, confused. "What do you mean?"

Pitch hesitated. He wanted to tell Jack everything still. But he couldn't. Jack had made a promise, and Jack would have to keep that promise. Pitch didn't know exactly what would happen to him when he actually broke it.

"Back for our side, of course," he covered quickly.

Jack gazed around the room, the sounds of jubilation echoing around the caves from his newfound winter sprites.

He raised his hand above his head, and clenched his fist in triumph. Yazid shattered into millions of miniscule pieces.

And still the fairies cheered.


End file.
